ALEXANDRIA, VA (December 7, 2020) – The National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) announced at its virtual annual meeting on Thursday that NIRI members elected four new directors to four-year terms: Raj Mehan, IRC; John Moten, IRC; Lisa Rose, IRC; and Cherryl Valenzuela. 

“I am happy to welcome this diverse group of highly regarded IR practitioners to the NIRI Board of Directors,” NIRI President and CEO Gary A. LaBranche, FASAE, CAE, said. “They will play a valuable role in helping the Board ensure the future of NIRI during these unprecedented times.”

“I also would like to thank the three Board members who completed their terms as directors: Jason Landkamer, Carol Murray Negron, and Greg Secord,” LaBranche added. “We are grateful for their contributions to the IR profession.” 

“I also want to thank outgoing Board Chair Melissa Plaisance for her steady leadership during this difficult year,” LaBranche said. Plaisance will remain on NIRI’s Board for an additional year as Immediate Past Board Chair.  

NIRI Board members have approved the election of Victoria Sivrais, a founding partner of Clermont Partners, LLC, as Chair-Elect for 2021. She will succeed Ruth Venning, IRC, executive director, investor relations, at Horizon Therapeutics plc, who has assumed the role of Board Chair. 

NIRI members will gather this week for NIRI’s first-ever Virtual Conference, which will feature live presentations, networking, and exhibit hours during the afternoons of December 8-10.

Welcoming Our New Board Members

Raj Mehan is Vice President, Finance and Treasurer, for Steelcase Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of office furniture. He leads the company’s capital management group that is responsible for planning, managing, and driving capital. Raj was a member of NIRI’s Virtual Chapter from 2009 to 2017, where he served in a variety of roles including co-president, secretary, and president. He earned his Certified Treasury Professional designation in 2012 and received NIRI’s Investor Relations Charter (IRC®) credential in 2016. Raj also is a member of NIRI’s Senior Roundtable. 

John Moten is the Vice President of Investor Relations for Foundation Building Materials, a distributor of specialty building products. John has more than 30 years of finance and capital markets experience, including experience as an institutional portfolio manager and a securities analyst. Before joining FBM in 2017, John was Vice President of Investor Relations for Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, where he established the IR department in 2013 before its spin-off as a publicly traded company. John has earned NIRI’s IRC credential. 

Lisa Rose is President of Dix & Eaton, where she partners with CEO Chas Withers in the areas of client service, practice development, talent development, and professional partnership and alliances. She previously led the firm’s investor relations practice, with responsibility for a broad portfolio of services that included shareholder communications, corporate governance, investor targeting, proxy contests, and shareholder activism. Lisa is a certified public accountant and a member of the American Institute of CPAs and holds the IRC certification from NIRI. 

Cherryl Valenzuela is Director of Investor Relations for Twitter. Prior to joining Twitter, Cherryl spent over six years as an investor relations officer at Informatica and JDSU. She has over 10 years of experience in the equity and fixed income capital markets and management consulting, working at Goldman Sachs, Gartner, McKinsey, and Merrill Lynch. Cherryl is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Certified FP&A Professional.